Rod weeder drive assembly

ABSTRACT

A drive assembly used with an implement having a rod weeder that is attachable to a tractor vehicle. The drive assembly is adapted to rotate the weeder rod of the rod weeder implement, and has a gearbox connectable with the power takeoff of the tractor by a main shaft, a second shaft connects the gearbox and a chain drive connected to the weeder rod contained in a strut mountable on a plow of the rod weeder.

Ilnite States Patent [191 Koelm [4s] ay 29, 1973 [541 ROD WEEDER DRIVEASSEMBLY 2,596,270 5 1952 Miller ..172 44 3 443 645 5/1969 Edwards..172/44 [76] Inventor: Dale G. Koehn, Rural Route 1, 1 v I I e m K s.7867 3, 37, 00 3/1966 Hutchinson 72/47 I [22] Filed: I 1, 1971 FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS ['21] pp No: 111,431 173,764 12/1960 Sweden..172/47 Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey Assistant ExdminerC. W.Hanor Attorney-John I-I. Widdowson [5 7] ABSTRACT 1 chain driveconnected to the weeder rod contained in a strut mountable on a plow ofthe rod weeder.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures 1 non WEEDER DRIVE ASSEMBLY Numerous types ofmeans are known in the prior art operable to drive the rotatable rod ofa rod weeder implement. Some of these prior art drive devices haveincorporated fluid motors connected to chain drives op erable to rotatethe weeder rod. These devices require the tractor vehicle to have anauxiliary hydraulic system, which many models do not have. Other priorart drive devices have geared devices connectable to the power takeoffof the tractor vehicle for operation of the rod weeder; this type deviceused either a chain drive and/or worm gear arrangement to drive theweeder rod. Although the power takeoff type drive device is easilyadapted to use with most conventional tractor vehicles, the prior artdevices have used a number of jointed drive shafts to route the powerfrom the power takeoff to the gear box or whatever; these jointed shaftscompensate for misalignment between the power takeoff and the gear boxand allow the implement to be raised and lowered. In these prior artdevices the multiply jointed driveshaft was necessary because not alltractor vehicles have the power take off shaft in the same positionrelative the vehicles hitch, and the gear box or whatever was mounted ina fixed position on the rod weeder implement. These multiply jointeddrive shafts are subject to much wear and vibration due to the number ofsegments thereof.

In one preferred specific embodiment of the herein described invention,a rod weeder drive assembly includes a substantially conventional rodweeder frame assembly; an adjustably mounted gear box assembly isconnectable to the power takeoff by a single drive shaft assembly and byanother single drive shaft assembly to a chain drive assembly operableto rotate the weeder rod. The rod weeder frame assembly has a transverseframe comprised of a plurality of elongated members with a plurality ofplow shoes depending therefrom. The frame is supported on heightadjustable wheel standards and has a standard three point hitch toattach the frame to a tractor vehicle. The gear box assembly is mountedto be transversely adjustable along the frame and so are the plow shoes.The main drive shaft assembly is adjustable in length and is attachableto the power takeoff of the tractor vehicle. The second shaft assemblyis adjustable in length and connects the gear box assembly and the chaindrive assembly. The chain drive assembly has a housing attached to theback of a plow holding tool bar partially enclosing the chain with theweeder rod and sprockets supported by bearing assemblies mounted onsides of the housing.

One object of the rod weeder drive assembly of this invention is toovercome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art devices.

Another object of the rod weeder drive assembly ofthis invention is toprovide a drive assembly having a single extendable drive shaft easilycouplable with the tractor vehicles power takeoff assembly.

Still another object of the rod weeder drive assembly of this inventionis to provide a drive assembly having a right angle gear box coupled bya single extendable shaft to a chain drive assembly operable to rotatethe weeder rod.

Yet another object of the rod weeder drive assembly of this invention isto provide a drive assembly having a right angle gear box mounted on theframe of the rod weeder such that it is transversely adjustable thereon.

Yet an additional object of the rod weeder drive assembly of thisinvention is to provide a rod weeder drive assembly having a partiallyenclosed and open on the back chain drive assembly attached behind aplow holding tool bar with roller bearing assemblies to rotatably mountthe chain drive sprockets and the weeder rod.

Various other objects, advantages, and features of the invention willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the followingdiscussion, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a rear elevation view of the rod weeder implement and thedrive assembly positioned with the plow shoes touching the ground;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the rod weeder and drive assembly shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the center portion of the rod weederand drive assembly taken on line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the drive strut showing the chaindrive assembly taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 11; and

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the center portion of the rod weedertaken on line 5-5 of FIG. 1.

The following is a discussion and description of the preferred specificembodiments of the rod weeder drive assembly of this invention, suchbeing made with reference to the drawings, whereupon the same referencenumerals are used to indicate the same or similar parts and/orstructure. It is to be understood that such discussion and descriptionis not to unduly limit the scope of the invention.

Referring to the drawings in detail and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2showing a conventionally styled rod weeder, generally indicated at 12,with the rod weeder drive assembly of this invention, generallyindicated at 114. The rod weeder 12 has an elongated frame structure 16with a standard type three-point hitch l8 and wheel assemblies 20 on theforward side and a plurality of plows 22 positioned below some of whichare supporting the weeder rod 24. The rod weeder drive as sembly 14 ofthis invention has a mainshaft 26 extending forward from the gear box28, which is mounted with the rod weeder frame 16, a second'shaft 30connecting the gear box 28 and the drive strut 32 which houses the chaindrive, which is used to rotate the weeder rod 24.

The rod weeder 14 shown in the drawings is of the conventional type andis well known in the prior art. The rod weeder frame 16 has transverselyextending rectangularconduits 36 and 38 forming the forward and rearmain members thereof which mount and support the other components of therod weeder 12. The hitch 18 is positioned in the center portion of theframe 16 on the forward side and is attached to both the forward 36 andrear 38 frame conduits. Several lateral support members 40 connect theforward 36 and rear 38 frame conduits at several places along the frame16 so as to hold the conduits in a substantially rigid and parallelrelation. Positioned between the lateral members 40 are strut supports42 which support the weeder rod 24 and function as tool holding bars;they are mounted on the forward frame conduit 36. The strut supports 42have bearing assemblies on the lower end which mount the weeder rod 24so it rotates about its elongated axis. The wheel assemblies 20 aremounted on the forward frame conduit 36 and have standards 44 supportingthe wheels 46 which are used to adjust the height of the frame 16 andplows 22 to the ground. This height adjustment is done by screw typeadjustments with hand cranks 48.

The rod weeder drive assembly 12 as shown with the rod weeder 12 has thegear box 28 mounted on a pair of lateral conduit support members 50attached to the forward 36 and rear 38 frame conduits. The gear box 28is preferrably a sealed unit and has the input and the output orientedat a right angle as shown. Input to the gear box 28 is by the mainshaft26. The mainshaft 26 has two segments which are joined by an elongatedsplined joint and slide along one another so as to make it extendable toprovide easy coupling to the tractor or operator vehicle. Thisextendable feature of the mainshaft 26 allows for length compensationwhen the rod weeder 12 is raised or lowered. Segments of the mainshaft26 are an outer shaft portion 52 which comprises one end portion and aninner shaft portion 54 which comprises the other end portion. The shaftportions 52 and 54 are shaped and sized on the matching surfaces tofreely slide along one another; in practice a substantially squarecross-sectional shape has been found to work well. The outer shaftportion 52 is preferably permanently attached to the input of the gearbox 28 by a universal joint coupling 56. The opposite end of themainshaft 28 is the inner shaft portion 54; it has an easilydisconnectable universal joint coupling 58 permanently attached to itadapted to be easily connected to and disconnected from power takeoff ofthe tractor or operator vehicle. Usually tractor or operator typevehicles have a short splined shaft extending from their rear which isrotated by the power takeoff; this shaft is used here to operate the rodweeder drive assembly 14 of this invention.

The rod weeder drive assembly 14 has the second shaft 30 coupled to theoutput of the gear box 28 by a universal joint 60 on one end, and it hasanother universal joint 62 on the other end connecting it to the drivestrut 32 and chain drive assembly. The second shaft 30 is constructedsimilar to the main shaft 26 having a splined joint and with an outershaft portion 64 slidable over an inner shaft portion 66. The universaljoints 60 and 62 on the second shaft 30 are pennanently attached becausethe second shaft 30 is not frequently removed as is the forward end ofthe main shaft 26.

The drive strut 32 is preferably mounted with the forward frame conduit36 and extends downward therefrom. The drive strut 32 is mounted behindan elongated plow shoe 68, it has sides 70 extending rearward spaced atthe width of the plow shoe 68. The sides 70 of the drive strut 32 arepreferably shaped as shown in FIG. 4 with an elongated upright portionand a forwardly curved lower portion. The sides 70 are jointed on theforward edge and held in a parallel relation forming a three-sidedenclosure. The drive strut 32 is mounted with the rod weeder 12 byattaching the drive strut 32 behind a tool bar 72 which holds a plowshoe 68. Attachment of the drive strut is preferably done by usingextended bolts on the plow shoe 68 to attach the lower portion and bybolting the ears 74, which extend forward from the upper portion of thesides, to the tool bar 72.

The function of the drive strut 32 is to house the chain drive assemblywhich connects the second shaft 30 and the weeder rod 24. The chaindrive assembly has several bearing plates 78 attached on the outside ofthe sides which support the weeder rod 24 on the lower part of the drivestrut 32 and the second shaft 30 on the upper portion. As shown in FIG.4 the chain drive has a chain 80 connected around a sprocket 82 in theupper portion of the drive strut 32, another sprocket 84 in the lowerportion and a tension adjusting sprocket 86 in the center portion. Theupper sprocket 82 is connected to the second shaft 30, and the lowersprocket 84 is connected to the weeder rod 24. The weeder rod 24 passesthrough the center of the lower sprocket 84 and its bearing support atthe axis of rotation.

As can be seen in the drawings, the drive assembly 14 is attached to therod weeder frame 16 by several different clamps 90. With the rod weederframe 16 so constructed of the two elongated conduits 36 and 38 theclamps 90 provide for easy mounting for the drive assembly 14. It is tobe noted that the drive assembly 14 is held to the frame 16 only by theclamps 90, so the gear box 28 and drive strut 32 can be positioned anyplace along the frame 16 preferably where it is most convenient toconnect it to the rod weeder 12. The drive strut 32 is attached to atool bar 72; however, not all tool bars on all types or makes of rodweeders are positioned in the same place or are always used in the sameplace. To compensate for this the second shaft 30 is extendable. Byusing the extendable second shaft 30, the drive strut can be positionedat different distances from the bear box 28. Also, because of theuniversal joints 60 and 62 on the second shaft 30, the drive strut 32does not have to be exactly aligned with the gear box 28 to operateproperly. The gear box 28 likewise can be positioned transversely alongthe rod weeder frame 16 so as to align the mainshaft 26 with the powertakeoff output shaft. This is an advantage because not all tractor oroperator vehicles are constructed with the power takeofi output shaft inthe same position. If a particular rod weeder is to be pulled by severaltractor or operator vehicles, the gear box 28 can be easily positionedto align with the power takeoff shaft for the particular vehicle pullingit.

Operation of the rod weeder drive assembly 14 is relatively simple. Themainshaft 26 transmits rotational motion from the tractor or operatorvehicle power takeofi to the gear box 28. The gear box 28 transmitsrotational motion to the second shaft 30 which is connected to a chaindrive that rotates the weeder rod 24. In actual operation the powertakeoff shaft speed deter mines the rotational speed of the weeder rod24 via the gear box 28 and chain drive. Obviously the speed ratio of theweeder rod 24 relative to the mainshaft 26 can be changed by alteringthe ratios of the gear box 28 and chain drive.

In the manufacture of the rod weeder drive assembly 14 of thisinvention, it is obvious that the shafts and other power transmittingcomponents are constructed of sufficient size and strength to providethe end result of rotating the weeder rod 24.

' In the use and operation of the rod weeder drive assembly 14 of thisinvention, it is seen that same provides a versatile structure mountablewith a rod weeder implement for rotating the weeder rod 24. The rodweeder drive assembly 14 can be positioned on the rod weeder frame toalign with available tool bars and for attachment to the weeder rod 24,and to align the gear box 28 with the tractor or operator vehicles powertakeoff shaft.

As will be apparent from the foregoing description of the applicants'rod weeder drive assembly, relatively versatile and easily adaptablemeans have been provided to drive the rod of a rod weeder directly fromthe power takeoff shaft of a tractor or operator vehicle. The rod weederdrive assembly is easy to use and mount on a rod weeder and can bepositioned and repositioned on the rod weeder frame for use andoperation.

While the invention has been described in conjunction with preferredspecific embodiments thereof, it will be understood that thisdescription is intended to illustrate and not to limit the scope of theinvention, which is defined by the following claims.

I claim:

l. A drive assembly for use in combination with an implement having rodweeder means, such implement having frame means, and a plurality ofearth working assemblies depending from said frame means with arotatable weeder rod member mounted transversely therewith, comprising:

a. a-gear box means mounted on said frame means and having a main shaftconnected to the power takeoff means of a powering vehicle,

b. a second shaft means attached to said gear box means,

c. a connecting drive means connected to said weeder rod member and tosaid second shaft means,

d. a strut means attached to the rear side of one said earth workingassemblies having said connecting drive means therewithin,

c. said gear box means is mounted on a transverse support member whichis transversely adjustably attached to said frame means, 7

' f said main shaft means is-a variable'length shaft and has an innershaft portion axially slidable inside a splindedly joined outer shaftportion and has means to attach said gear box means and means to attachthe power takeoff means,

g. said second shaft means is a variable length shaft and has an innershaft portion axially slidable inside a splindedly joined outer shaftportion and has means to attach said gear box means and means to attachsaid chain drive means,

h. said strut means is shaped on the forward edge portion thereof toconform generally to said earth working assembly and has side membersextending rearward therefrom sufficient to enclose said connecting drivemeans between said side members with the back and bottom thereof open,the forward edge of said side members conforming in shape to one of saidearth working assemblies,

i. said gear box means has the input thereto at a right angle relativethe output therefrom,

j. said strut means adjustably secured to said earth working assemblywith said second shaft variable in length to compensate for location ofsaid strut means, and

k. said strut means has a bearing means mounted on said side memberson-the upper portion thereof mounting a first sprocket member of saidconnecting drive means and said second shaft means, and has bearingmeans attached to said side members on the lower portion thereofmounting a second sprocket member of said connecting drive means andsaid rotatable weeder rod member, a roller chain is connectedtherearound said first and second sprockets, a chain tension adjustingsprocket is mounted between said side members in contact with saidroller chain operable to adjust the tension of same.

1. A drive assembly for use in combination with an implement having rodweeder means, such implement having frame means, and a plurality ofearth working assemblies depending from said frame means with arotatable weeder rod member mounted transversely therewith, comprising:a. a gear box means mounted on said frame means and having a main shaftconnected to the power takeoff means of a powering vehicle, b. a secondshaft means attached to said gear box means, c. a connecting drIve meansconnected to said weeder rod member and to said second shaft means, d. astrut means attached to the rear side of one said earth workingassemblies having said connecting drive means therewithin, e. said gearbox means is mounted on a transverse support member which istransversely adjustably attached to said frame means, f. said main shaftmeans is a variable length shaft and has an inner shaft portion axiallyslidable inside a splindedly joined outer shaft portion and has means toattach said gear box means and means to attach the power takeoff means,g. said second shaft means is a variable length shaft and has an innershaft portion axially slidable inside a splindedly joined outer shaftportion and has means to attach said gear box means and means to attachsaid chain drive means, h. said strut means is shaped on the forwardedge portion thereof to conform generally to said earth working assemblyand has side members extending rearward therefrom sufficient to enclosesaid connecting drive means between said side members with the back andbottom thereof open, the forward edge of said side members conforming inshape to one of said earth working assemblies, i. said gear box meanshas the input thereto at a right angle relative the output therefrom, j.said strut means adjustably secured to said earth working assembly withsaid second shaft variable in length to compensate for location of saidstrut means, and k. said strut means has a bearing means mounted on saidside members on the upper portion thereof mounting a first sprocketmember of said connecting drive means and said second shaft means, andhas bearing means attached to said side members on the lower portionthereof mounting a second sprocket member of said connecting drive meansand said rotatable weeder rod member, a roller chain is connectedtherearound said first and second sprockets, a chain tension adjustingsprocket is mounted between said side members in contact with saidroller chain operable to adjust the tension of same.